Interview with concept artist Anthony Christou
After two years of writing Design Montage, I am still completely amazed when incredibly talented people just pop out of the woodwork. In early January I received a wonderful email from Anthony Christou in South Australia describing and detailing his creative practice as an environments concept artist and illustrator. Wow!
The more I emailed with Anthony, the more intrigued (and my inner geek was delighted) by the samples of his work with space stations, game characters and huge, wide fantasy landscapes. I hope you are as impressed as I was, and am.
Anthony is an illustrator and conceptual artist for the entertainment and publishing industries. Growing up with a huge love for anything and everything creative, Anthony went from performing to visual communication. He completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts, began his career as a graphic designer. Several years later, he switched to teaching while practicing his illustration at night.
Anthony has now been a professional illustrator and concept artist for 5 years. This includes working with, video game studios, publishers, authors, comic book publishers and Animation Studios. Recently, CGHUB and The Gnomon Workshop have awarded Anthony for his environment concepts and illustrations.
He’s collaborated on several comics with fellow creatives and is now starting to tackle his own series of graphic novels. Anthony’s creative journey has varied over the past 15 years of his career, and I can’t wait to see what the future brings for him.
View Anthony’s environments in a much larger form on his website, blog, or Facebook.
Anthony’s interview responses are very detailed and I’ve tried not to cut too much, so please read on for the story behind how his career came about.
How have you got to where you are today? Describe a little background on why and how you got started…
Well, I was always a creative soul I would draw as a child but also had interests in music, dancing, singing, and acting, and performed in many productions as a child. I have had experience in acting in high school productions and also in acting groups I performed in stage shows in drama groups. I also was a ballroom dancer and have been in numerous bands in my childhood and teens.
Although I loved acting dancing and playing in bands, I seemed to prefer art and it always was there for me as a release and creative expression.
The great thing about concept art and illustration is although it can be collaborative, it is for me the most expressive medium. It allows an artist to write a story, create characters and have them perform on a page and act out their stories visually, in comic or illustration, or piece of concept art.
My parents were always supportive of my creative talents. I did well in high school (even in maths) but my passion for Visual Arts and Graphic Design was prominent. My mum made sure that I got through university and at least got a degree.
I started studying Visual Communication, but because I wanted to learn 3D and computer graphics, I switched to Visual Arts. I ended up with a Bachelor of Visual Arts having studied mainly graphic design subjects and majoring in digital media and digital art in my last year. I later went back to university to complete a Masters of Art and Design Majoring in Graphic Design & Illustration. I started my career as a graphic designer in 2000 I had several roles from multimedia designer for a media company, to graphic designer for a print company. I also worked for Diabetes South Australia as the designer for their magazine and other publications and websites.
As I travelled Europe and Asia, it gave me time to take photos and explore my love of photography. I think that is where my love for the environment and architecture and all my crazy ideas for designing worlds came from.
Then one day, I bumped into an old university friend and was offered a chance to teach at UniSA, my old University. While there I bumped into an old student friend of mine, Simon Scales, who introduced me to Concept Art and Illustration. In 2007 I fell in love with that field.
For me, concept art and commercial illustration seemed like the perfect balance between graphic design and fine arts. It still also allowed me to explore photography and use photography to inspire my concept designs and illustrations.
While I taught at the university from 2007- until late 2010 I was training myself in concept art and illustration. I also attained a Masters in Art and Design Majoring in Illustration Design. I was still teaching 2011 graphic design and illustration and started working on research at the university. I didn’t enjoy the research as much so I decided to go full-time in my own business.
It has certainly been a great learning curve over the last two years to go out on my own, but my illustration and concept art skills have gone from strength to strength. It can be very demanding as I presently have all the tasks of a business such as marketing, illustration, training, administration, and finances. So far it’s been very rewarding.
In a few words, describe yourself…
I am a hard-working, friendly, fun, creative, and positive person. I spend many hours in my studio but I also believe in balance and like to spend any spare time with my family and friends.
What are you spending your time on at the moment?
Currently, I’m working on a children’s book and on a major AAA video game developing small illustrations and some conceptual art. I am not allowed to disclose who the studio is (for confidentiality reasons) but let’s just say that placing them on my CV will definitely be a great honor.
I am also writing my own graphic novel which I’m guessing is going to take me a few years in amongst client work!
Do you have a ritual for getting into the creative mindset? Or a creative process?
I usually wake up in the morning, turn on the music, have breakfast, and quickly look at emails. I also like to look at other concept artists, photography and anything inspirational from the latest magazine on art or illustration.
Once I warm up with emails and looking at inspiration online I start sketching whatever project I have on at the time with rough pencil ideas or concept art with Photoshop brushes.
I think music is a great inspiration for me and having some relaxing or motivational tunes gets me into the flow and creative mindset. Sometimes if I need motivation I look at how other industry professionals paint from The Gnomon Workshop and it may trigger an idea or give me a technique to start working with.
But I find for me it is just a matter of waking up and turning on good music. Even if I don’t have client work to attend to, I usually start painting studies in Photoshop of photography such as nature scenes architecture, or cool costumes on people. I often also not only do studies of things from real life but also draw and paint from my imagination at times as a warm-up and set me a goal.
I find entering contests and having a brief actually allows me to be more creative because I know what I am working towards. Once I start researching images, I can then get into a creative process. My process involves doing studies of collected images, creating thumbnails, and making rough concepts than creating 1-2 finished paintings in a day.
What or who inspires you?
The people that have inspired me include my parents, my sister and her partner, and my nieces and nephew. They have all supported me in life and the great character and strength they have shown me has given me a great inspiration and motivation to keep on fighting for my own dreams in Art and Design.
My other inspiration is my Mentor and long-time colleague Rob C. Richardson from Tampa Florida. He has shown me what it takes to be a professional illustrator and conceptual artist. He has also been around for me, to give me inspiration, motivation, strength, and support. I owe a great deal to him as he has given me the discipline I need and also the attitude to always remain humble.
What are you most proud of?
I am proud that I have finally found my true calling which is to basically be a concept artist, illustrator, and comic book artist for clients or for my own projects. I am very proud that I have been able to get some clients as I know this field is challenging and I feel very grateful to be working in this field.
I am also proud I have built up a personal resilience to keep on creating despite my financial responsibilities, hurdles and hiccups along the way.
When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a Doctor of some sort to help people medically. When I realised that my interest and thirst for scientific knowledge was far lower than my love for creative fields such as dancing, acting, painting, photography, and writing, I instead embraced my passion for creative skills.
